I'm in technician hell

I try not to write too much about work... after all, if somebody "not in the know" traced me back to my company, anything I write about here could result in problems for my company, my termination, or both. However, sometimes you come across something That Messed Up that I, at least, can't contain myself.

So, if you were reading this back in July, there was a little rant about a sister company screwing the pooch on a Rather Important system, shutting us both down while I could do nothing but watch in disbelief. Well, it took a few months, but, about two months ago, my responsibilities were expanded to cover that company's machines as well... and what I found disturbed me profoundly. To the best of my ability to tell, nothing had been done in that office in the way of Windows patches since around 2006. I don't feel too bad about writing that "in public" now... as of this weekend, I should have the last of the machines brought up to speed... just in time for the next Patch Tuesday, but that's just the usual fun with Windows.

I thought I had things somewhat in-hand... but then, I started dredging through the assorted boxes that had been stuffed into the server room, separating out the chaff, as it were. I finished my initial sort-and-toss today, and discovered that the last boxed copy of our antivirus solution had been bought back in 2005. I haven't found any indications of online purchases anywhere either... meaning that they've been gimping along for over 2 years on outdated antivirus software. I suspect that they haven't had as much in the way of problems as they could have, due to some Barracuda hardware filtering their web traffic and incoming email... but the email filter subscription expired last month, and the web filter expires in mere days.

Now, for the cherry on top... it's a housing-industry-related company, in tough financial times. The head of this company couldn't scrape together the (admittedly high) renewal fee that Barracuda wants for their email appliance... but, when I approached him about the antivirus issue, his take on the problem was, basically, that the company might not survive the month (!), so he wanted to focus on that problem to the exclusion of all others. So, not only do I have security itches that I just can't scratch, now I've got that "your Christmas bonus might be an unemployment check" theme working for me. Mind you, my "real" boss, the guy running the parent company, isn't likely to let me go easily... but I do have to wonder how long he can continue his Quixotic quest to make his company profitable, especially in the face of his own advancing age and his wife's health problems.

Oh well, I guess I just have to soldier on as best I can for now. I've ridden a company to the bottom before... I sincerely hope that's not where this company's headed, and I think it's still a fair ways down if it is, but I'm definitely feeling less warm and fuzzy than I was yesterday.